A good example is the McCain's camp recent charge that Barack Obama skipped a visit to wounded American troops in Germany because he didn't want to go without a large media entourage. The facts don't back up the charge -- on this there is near unanimity among those who have looked closely at the facts -- but it hardly matters, sadly. If McCain and his surrogates make the charge enough times, people will buy it, and much of the media doesn't do a good enough job of calling the candidate on it.